International expansion offers growth and the opportunity to not only scale a business, but to diversify as well. And you don’t need a big investment to pull it off. Here are two cases to prove it.

Chris-Tia Donaldson, founder of Chicago-based Thank God It’s Natural, a line of hair care products for textured hair, grew her global audience through social media—the international orders and distribution requests flowed in from there. The question for Chris was never should I do this [go global]; it was more, where should I go first?

Jamie (pictured) and Stephanie Kaplan, the sisters who founded Chicago’s Pinch Provisions, which makes “emergency” kits packed with miniature beauty products, bandages and other essentials, saw the opportunity to grow their business internationally fairly quickly but the key to exporting the kits was based on which regulations they thought they could meet as quickly as possible. They launched in Canada, France and then the U.K., with Australia focused on next.

Chris and the Kaplan sisters offer the following four tips when taking a business global:

Decide where to expand.

Navigate compliance.

Build a retail strategy.

Cross barriers (whether it be language, cultural or currency fluctuations).

WEGG Mission

Our mission is to educate women business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide on how to go global so they can run healthier businesses and create a new future for themselves, their families and their community.